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Clayton Van Lydegraf's portion of the transcription of the Canwell Committee, November 18, 1948

The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States heated up in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It led to a "witch-hunt" called The Red Scare. Panic rolled over the United States in waves due to the perceived threat posed by Communists and Communist-sympathizers. U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy insisted upon investigations that would determine whether or not individuals were loyal to the U.S. Government. The lives of federal employees, movie stars, and university professors were scrutinized. Albert Canwell (1907-2002), a Washington state senator and journalist from Spokane, led an investigation of the University of Washington professors in the summer of 1948. He modeled his investigation after the House Committee on Un-American Activities and called it the Committee on Tenure and Academic Freedom. Colloquially the committee is referred to as the "Canwell Committee." Raymond B. Allen (1902-1986) was the president of the University of Washington at the time. These papers are from the U.W. President's collection. Forty professors were to testify, but only twelve made it to the stand. Of the twelve University professors that were "tried" by the committee, only three were formally dismissed: Herbert Phillips (Philosophy), Joseph Butterworth (Old English), and Ralph Gundlach (Social Psychology). All three professors had been with the university for twenty years or more. Newspapers across the United States applauded the work of the Canwell Committee as it set precedence for other institutions. After being dismissed, only Professor Gundlach was able to find work in his profession again. Professor Phillips moved to San Francisco and became a laborer and Professor Butterworth went on public assistance and was described as a "broken man." Albert Canwell was not re-elected in the fall of 1948 and President Allen left the University of Washington in 1951 for a position as the first Chancellor of UCLA. The hysteria that led to The Red Scare began to die down by the late 1950s.